Childhood and ancestry

She was
born in Soestdijk
Palace. Her older sister is the current Queen of
the Netherlands, Beatrix.
Among her godparents was Elizabeth
Bowes-Lyon, who was Queen consort of the United Kingdom at the
time of her birth.

Although it was a constitutional tradition and not a law that
forbade a Catholic to reign over the Netherlands, it was a practice
predicated upon a history of the Protestant-dominated Dutch
Parliament (States-General) born out of the
16th century war with Spain. Fears of Catholic domination had
increased over the centuries through difficulties and wars over the
policies of many neighboring Catholic European countries and the
precedent created by the ascension of a member of the House of Orange to the throne of the
Kingdom of England solely because
he was Protestant. By the middle of the
20th century religious attitudes had begun to change, but only very
slowly. While members of the Roman Catholic Church accounted for
approximately 34% of the Dutch population, and Catholic political
parties had been in coalition governments since 1918, the high
fertility rate of the Catholics was a matter of some concern for
all non-Catholics.

Amplifying the crisis over a Royal conversion to Catholicism and a
marriage without approval of the Dutch States-General (which the
Princess, then second-in-line to the throne, knew she would never
get), were the still very fresh memories of General Franco's support for Nazi Germany.
For the second in line to the throne not merely to convert to Roman
Catholicism but associate with an alleged leader of Franco's party,
caused shock and consternation in the Netherlands.

Queen Juliana attempted
to stop the marriage, first by sending a member of her staff to
Madrid to persuade the Princess not to go ahead with a marriage
that was a political disaster for the monarchy in the Netherlands.
It seemed to work and the Queen went on Dutch radio to tell the
citizens that Princess Irene had agreed to cancel her engagement
and was returning to the Netherlands. However, when the airplane
arrived at Schiphol Airport, the Princess was not on it, and Queen
Juliana and her husband, Prince Bernhard were
supplied with a Dutch military plane to go to Spain to retrieve
their daughter. However, a message was delivered to the Queen from
the Dutch government warning that it would resign en masse
if she set foot in Spain. Given the ramifications and the fact that
a monarch from the House of Orange had never visited Spain, the
Queen had no choice but to turn back.

It was suggested that Princess Irene was a pawn of General Francisco Franco who tried to maximize the
event to his benefit. In early 1964 Princess Irene flew home in the
company of Carlos Hugo where an immediate meeting took place with
the couple, the Queen, Prime Minister Marijnen, and three top
cabinet ministers. In an attempt to gain public favour for her
proposed marriage, Princess Irene publicly stated that her marriage
was intended to help end religious intolerance. This caused a
division in public opinion, as less than 40% of the country ruled
by the Protestant House of Orange was Roman Catholic. Over the ensuing
weeks, things deteriorated further when Pope Paul VI granted an Audience requested by the couple in
Rome. The Queen at first denied such a meeting
had taken place, but it was later verified. Irene alienated herself
from most every Dutch citizen when a photo appeared in a Dutch
paper showing Irene at a Carlist rally in
Spain and she declared that she supported her fiancé's
politics.

Marriage

No one
from the Dutch Royal family or any Dutch diplomatic representative
attended the marriage of Princess Irene and Prince Carlos Hugo in
the Borghese Chapel at the Basilica di
Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, Italy, on 29 April
1964. Because she had failed to obtain the approval of the
States-General to marry, Irene lost her right of succession to the
Dutch throne. She agreed that she would live outside of the
Netherlands.

After the wedding, Irene was very active in her husband's
right-wing political cause, but over time they drifted away from
right wing extremism to left wing sympathies and became a part of
the international jet-set crowd. The prince,
head of the Royal House of Bourbon-Parma, became a naturalized Spanish
citizen in 1979. The couple had four children, but the marriage
ended in divorce in 1981.

Since divorce

Irene returned to live in the Netherlands with her children and
became involved in various personal development workshops, trying
to "find herself". Her connection with nature, that she says she
had felt since childhood, intensified, and in 1995 she published
her book Dialogue with Nature. The book outlined her
philosophy that human beings are alienated from the natural world,
but the Dutch media seized upon passages that recounted
conversations she said she had with the trees and dolphins.

In 1999
Princess Irene purchased a farm near Nieu-Bethesda in South Africa,
turning it into a sanctuary. In 2001, she helped establish
the NatuurCollege in the Netherlands. The Princess is an honourable
member of the Club of
Budapest.

Titles and styles

5 August 1939 – 29 April 1964: Her Royal Highness
Princess Irene of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau,
Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld

29 April 1964 – 7 May 1977: Her Royal Highness The
Duchess of Madrid

7 May 1977 - 1981: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of
Parma

1981 - present: Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of
the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of
Lippe-Biesterfeld

Ancestry

Patrilineal descent

Irene's patriline is the line from which she is descended father to
son.

Patrilineal descent is the
principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced
back through the generations - which means that her historically
accurate house name would be Lippe,
as all her male-line ancestors have been of that house.